Envelope



Patented Oct. 24, 1933 UNITED STATES PATENT GFFICE rlhis invention relates to envelopes, and more especially to return envelopes to be used for convenient remitting purposes by the persons to whom they are originally sent. The function of such an envelope is (l) to facilitate and simplify business transactions between business concerns and their customers or prospective customers, and (2) to increase the percentage of remittances and encourage promptness of return relative thereto. My invention herein furthermore has for its object to produce such a return envelope which is superior in construction and appearance to envelopes of a like nature heretofore known and which can be manufactured more conveniently and with the use of a minimum amount of paper stock.

These and other features of the invention will be best understood and appreciated from the following description of a preferred embodiment thereof, selected for purposes of illustration and shown in the accompanying drawing, in which Fig. 1 shows a blank from which my envelope is formed and;

Fig. 2 shows an envelope formed from the blank.

The blank, which is in one piece cut out from a single paper sheet, comprises a front panel and two edge flaps 12 and 14 and a rear panel 16 connected respectively to three edges of the front panel. A gummed flap 18 for sealing the envelope is attached to the fourth edge of the front panel and a return sheet 20 is carried on one edge of the rear panel.

The return sheet 20 is adapted to carry the remittance message when the envelope is returned and, for convenience and uniformity, this sheet will ordinarily be printed with such data as is common to the envelopes of a particular group. The construction of the4 envelope permits this printing operation to be performed in a most convenient manner simultaneously with the manufacture of the envelope, either during the cutting out of the blank or the folding thereof.

The forming of the blank into the envelope of Fig. 2 is accomplished as follows. folded over onto the rear face of the front panel 10 and the flaps 12 and 14 are then folded and pasted onto the rear panel. 'I'he sheet 20 is folded rearwardly-along the scored line 22, whereupon it is located over the rear face of the enl0 velope with its printed face exposed conveniently for reading and for the receipt of any data to be applied thereto.

It will be noted that the rear panel 16 is shorter in height and narrower in width than the front panellO, although the two panels are at- The panel 16 is.

tached together along the entire edge 24 of the front panel. I secure this full line attachment and at the same time retain the relatively smaller dimensions of the rear panel and sheet 20 by notching the panel and sheet at 26. This notch- 6@ ing is so formed that when the blank is folded the line of attachment 22 between4 the sheet 20 and panel 16 is spaced from the top edge of the envelope and also from its edge 24. The outer edge of the sheet 20 is also spaced from the op= 65 posite edge of the envelope, as indicated at 23. Thus the sheet 20 is attached to the envelope in a most convenient position to be tucked thereinto and housed freely within the envelope, and is so attached and related to the cooperating flaps that the envelope presents a very pleasing appearance and provides a unitary structure free from objectionable tabs and the like which would detract from the appearance and utility of the product.

From the foregoing description, it will be apa parent that I have succeeded in designing an envelope which presents no projecting corners or angles likely to become bent in-handling or to catch and tear the envelope or to interfere with the return sheet 20 when the latter is tucked into the complete envelope. f

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is: l

An envelope for commercial return use, comprising a front panel, two edge flaps and a rear panel carried by the front panel respectively at three edges thereof and folded rearwardly into the front panel and sealed together at the junction of the flaps and. rear panel to form a complete envelope body, a gummed flap attached to the fourth edge of the front panel ready for sealing the envelope, the rear panel being shorter in height and narrower in width than the front panel and the entire upper edge thereof adjacent to the gummed flap being spaced downwardly from the junction of the gummed ap with the front panel, and a return sheet carried by and integral with the rear panel at said upper edge, said sheet being folded rearwardly on the rear panel along said upper edge and being of a width narrower than the envelope and disposed intermediate and spaced within the ends thereof.

. JOI-IN JOSEPH SULLIVAN. 

